Playersâ Association executive director Don Fehr suggested the NHL has not made a new proposal.Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Once again, a federal mediator could not move the NHL and its players closer to a new collective bargaining agreement.

Scot Beckenbaugh, deputy director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, presided over 6½ hours of talks today at a FMCS subregional office in Iselin. However, the two sides were never together in the same room and the lockout is no closer to an end after 88 days.

"The mediator was in both rooms," former Devils forward Brendan Morrison reported, "but there was just no progress.

"It’s good in sense that we’re here having some dialogue with the mediator, but bad in a sense that there is no progression."

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly echoed Morrison’s comment.

"We met for about 6½ hours today with the assistance of federal mediator Scot Beckenbaugh, and the parties were actually never in the same room together," Daly said. "We did several different caucus meeting rooms and really there is nothing new to report. We don’t have a conclusion to the process."

Players’ Association executive director Don Fehr suggested the league has not made a new proposal.

"All I’m going to say is there wasn’t any change in position," Fehr said. "There were a number of meetings each side had with the mediator today. We also had caucuses on our own and I assume the league personnel did also. There were discussions on the various issues, how far apart we are and where we go from here. I can’t tell you any progress was made."

Don Fehr and NHLPA special counsel Steve Fehr planned to stay in touch with the federal mediator, but there were no immediate plans for the resumption of talks Thursday.

"Certainly there is a chance of it. I can’t tell you whether it’s going to happen," Don Fehr said. "(It would depend on) a joint belief there is a reasonable chance you can accomplish something doing it rather than proceeding in different directions."

Despite reports that the league’s last proposal remained on the table, Daly said: "No, there is not a proposal on the table."

Morrison said: "I wasn’t aware of that. When we left the meeting with the mediator we were told that package was still on the table. Then the mediator went to speak with the league. Obviously that’s what they decided to do."

There was little optimism in the building just off the Garden State Parkway.

"I think discouraged is a good word to use. Frustrated," Morrison said. "It’s bargaining. It has to be give and take. It just can’t be give and it just can’t be take from one side or the other.

"I never though the issues were as big as they were back in ‘04-05. Apparently I was wrong. I thought the gap would be closed much quicker but it hasn’t come to fruition yet. We just have to keep working."